Grandma Ree's letters

  Dear Family and Friends, Jan/Feb 2025 `      Are you enjoying your cold weather?  Winter has sure been here, with a few days of figures below freezing, but no snow.  Maybe there is still time for some, yet.  Who knows? Perhaps you will remember in last month’s letter where I was so surprised to receive a call from Korey, my military grandson serving in Japan, who said he had just brought his whole family from Idaho to live with him there.  Well, I was super surprised to receive a letter from Japan early in January, addressed to Great Grandma Ree.  It was from his 3 year old daughter, Paige.  What she sent was so cute, I decided to share it with you.  The large, rather stiff paper had across the top  “Love you from my head to my MISTLETOE”  Then, under it was some brightly colored mistletoe and her two little feet with its 10 little toes, the image of which had been filled in wi...

  Dear Family and Friends, Dec/Jan 2025 I trust that everyone had a nice Christmas and you are anxious to begin this New Year to see what adventures and blessings might be in store for you.  In Grants Pass, we have had quite a bit of rain lately, but no snow as yet.  The Rogue River is very high and flowing fast, but so far there is no sign of flooding here at the Riviera, thank goodness, but there have been reports of flooding in some of the lower areas of town, and sites that are right along the river’s edge.  Too bad.  I was very surprised however by a thunderstorm that happened on Christmas night. I had been wishing for some thunder that I could actually hear. The few that we've had here have been far away with rumbling that was almost undetectable.  But that one during the wee hours of the night started soft and then continued to grow louder as the storm moved closer to us.  Then when it was right overhead it gave out with such a lou...

  Dear Family and Friends, Nov/Dec 2024 November was already letting us know that fall was almost over with its colorful leaves falling to the ground and the weather changing to cold and Christmas decorations beginning to appear on homes.  Before long it may even begin to snow and change everything into a wonderland of beauty.  We learn to appreciate and enjoy all of the beautiful seasons of the year.   A few of True’s orchids are still blooming but most of them had been cut back for the winter before she left.  Linda is keeping them watered as part of her ‘take over’ job while True is gone.  Between her part-time job, caring for her own home, her animals and other commitments, Linda does well managing to come when she can to take care of my house and my needs.    Oh, and bless her big, loving heart, Linda added to her duties when she found two little newborn kittens at her workplace which had been abandoned by the mother cat....

Dear family and friends. The month of October brought delightfully mild weather to Grants Pass with no fires in our vicinity, so we were very lucky this year.  The trees surrounding Riviera Park where I live are mostly evergreens, with a few others here and there which are displaying their beautiful colors for us to enjoy. I hope you enjoy them too -- wherever you are. True says fall/autumn is her favorite time of year, and she was able to get in some good hiking time and be close to nature, which she thoroughly enjoys. However, she has been extra busy finishing the book she's been so involved with the past few months.  Yes, the book she has put her whole heart and soul into, using every possible waking moment and long hours into the night, is almost done. She was advised to redo her original true-life experience account by adding more characters and making it more "readable" by transforming it into a historical novel with more conversations and deep feelings between the ...

  Dear Family and Friends, Sept. / Oct. 2024 It’s Autumn - with a bit of a breeze and coolness in the air and even a little rain; but still lovely weather.  Leaves are beginning to turn beautiful colors and will soon be falling from the trees.  This is an energetic time of year. True loves being able to stroll, walk, or run about in this kind of weather. I wish I could too. Early in the month I had Norma give me a permanent because my big head of hair was getting too long and unwieldy even though she does do it up nicely for me each week. It is naturally straight as a board so usually has to have a permanent about every four months or so in order to keep it curly. It was also time for me to get a realignment of my sixty year old dentures. And in so doing, I was reminded of the cute poem my Aunt Lizzy, as we called my mother’s sister, had created about Grandma’s disobedient teeth. It has become a family ‘gem’ and is a bit lengthy, but I thought I’d like to share it with yo...

 Dear Family and Friends, The first part of August was filled with emptiness. True was still at her daughter’s place in Spokane until the 23rd of Sept. and Diane, who was hired to take True’s place, was with her daughter in Colorado for ten days, so I was technically alone for those few days. But arrangements were made for sisters of the Church Relief Society to come in and supply me with a meal each of those days. I am so thankful for each of the ones who expressed their love and concern for me in doing so. The main thing that occurred in August was the difficulty we had with our printer and computer. The printer had been acting up and then stopped completely. So Linda purchased a new one. When we called the company for instructions in setting it up for a wireless connection with the computer, the printer technician found that a virus existed in the computer that wouldn’t allow for the connection to be made. Many hours of Linda’s precious time was used up closely following the int...

 Dear Family and Friends July started off with the visit of Dan’s oldest son Korey and his kids and the incomparable jet boat ride, followed closely by the visit of my brother Clifford’s oldest daughter Sandy and her husband Steve Czeck.  They told us about and showed pictures of their recent trip to Africa with its safari and wild animals and all. Sandy has done considerable research on our family line and would like to return to Ireland to find out more. With Linda being here with us, we were able to enjoy Tile Rummy and Steve treated us to a great spaghetti dinner using his own special sauce. We enjoyed their visit and wished them well if they do ever get to go to Australia, as Steve was saying he would like to do. I remember a few months back when I wrote about this being a house of mystery because things were always disappearing or getting lost. Well this month, after searching for days high and low, I was sure that a...